Following is the unofficial transcript of a CNBC interview with Rep. Darrell Issa, today on CNBC's "Street Signs."

All references must be sourced to CNBC.

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BURNETT: GOOD TO HAVE YOU WITH US, SIR.

ISSA: THANK YOU.

BURNETT: LET ME JUST GET STRAIGHT TO THE POINT HERE. YOUR STATEMENT SAYS THE FEDERAL RESERVE ENGAGED IN A COVERUP AND DELIBERATELY HID CONCERNS AND DETAILS REGARDING THE MERGER FROM OTHER FEDERAL REGULATORY AGENCIES. HOW DO YOU KNOW THIS?

ISSA: WE FOUND IT. WE CAN MAKE THE BACKGROUND MATERIAL AVAILABLE. OBVIOUSLY THIS IS A QUESTION WE'RE GOING TO HAVE TOMORROW AND BEYOND. WE'RE VERY CONCERNED THAT IT NOW AS WE'VE GONE FROM KEN LEWIS TO THE NEXT STEP AND EVENTUALLY TO THE FORMER SECRETARY PAULSON THAT WHAT WE SEE IS THREATS BEING MADE IN PRIVATE, COVERUP OF THE CONCERNS IN ORDER TO GET THE DEAL DONE. THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT WE DON'T LET THE PRIVATE SECTOR DO. WE CAN'T TOLERATE GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS USING THEIR POWER TO DO. WE STAND BY THE STATEMENT. WE HOPE THAT WE'LL BE VINDICATED ALL THROUGHOUT THE PROCESS AS WE ASK OUR WITNESSES TO ANSWER SOME TOUGH QUESTIONS.

BURNETT: WHO DID THE THREATS? I MEAN, YOUR STATEMENT DID NOT MENTION BEN BERNANKE BY NAME.

ISSA: WELL, WE BELIEVE THAT, WELL, WE BELIEVE THAT IN QUESTIONING HE'S GOING TO HAVE TO ANSWER FOR HIS ROLE. I DON'T WANT TO PRESUPPOSE HOW HE'LL ANSWER OR NOT ANSWER BUT, YES. WE THINK THAT HE OVERSTEPPED AND USED HIS POSITION TO SUPPORT BOTH HE AND PAULSON'S ATTEMPT TO MAKE THIS HAPPEN. YOU KNOW, THERE'S NOTHING WRONG WITH THE DEAL AS IT TURNS OUT BUT THERE IS SOMETHING WRONG WITH INTERFERING WITH BUSINESSES MAKING NORMAL DUE DILIGENCE AND INFORMING THEIR STOCK HOLDERS. THIS WAS THE FIRST HEARING, REAL CRUX WAS, KEN LEWIS IS ON THE HOT SEAT BECAUSE WHEN HE WAS THREATENED, SHOULD HE HAVE TOLD HIS STOCK HOLDERS? HE CERTAINLY FEARED TO TELL HIS STOCK HOLDERS AND HIS BOARD HE WAS BEING THREATENED BUT ULTIMATELY THAT TAINTS THE WHOLE MERGER IN THIS CASE.

BURNETT: STEVE?

LIESMAN: COVERUP IS A VERY STRONG WORD. MY FIRST QUESTION IS THIS. DO YOU MEAN AN ILLEGAL COVERUP?

ISSA: AT THIS POINT WE'RE SAYING FAILED TO DISCLOSE. CERTAINLY AS WE TAKE ADDITIONAL WITNESSES WE EXPECT TO HAVE HONEST ANSWERS AND AT THAT POINT I WOULD SAY THAT THE FAILURE TO DISCLOSE WILL TURN INTO A FAIR AND FULL DISCLOSURE.

LIESMAN: I'M SORRY, REPRESENTATIVE. A MEMO I HAVE FROM YOUR OFFICE SAYS THE WORD "COVERUP." DO YOU NOT MEAN THAT IN THE MEMO THAT YOU WROTE?

ISSA: WELL, CERTAINLY IF KEN LEWIS WAS ON THE HOT SEAT WE'RE SEEING THAT THERE WAS A FAILURE TO DISCLOSE.

LIESMAN: OKAY.

ISSA: WE THINK IT GOES TO THE LEVEL OF A COVERUP BECAUSE WE THINK THAT THEY MADE A CONSCIOUS DECISION NOT TO MAKE THESE FACTS KNOWN. WHEN YOU SAY COVERUP DO YOU MEAN THE FAILURE TO TELL THE SEC, THE FAILURE TO TELL THE OCC AS YOU WROTE IN THAT -- AS IS DETAILED IN THE MINORITY MEMO NOW MADE PUBLIC?

ISSA: THAT IS CORRECT.

LIESMAN: ERIN?

BURNETT: REPRESENTATIVE, YOU REALIZE BY WHAT YOU'RE SAYING HERE THAT, I MEAN, POTENTIALLY WE ARE TALKING ABOUT SOMETHING WHICH COULD ALL THE WAY TO THE TOP OF THE FED. I KNOW I KEEP COMING BACK TO THIS BUT BEN BERNANKE, HIS CREDIBILITY, HE HAS SAID HE DIDN'T PRESSURE THEM. THIS IS HIS JOB ON THE LINE. I MEAN, YOU REALIZE THIS AND WROTE THIS AND USED THE WORD "COVERUP" WITH FULL KNOWLEDGE OF THAT.

ISSA: AND WE DID. YOU KNOW, NOT PRESSURING IS A PRETTY STRONG STATEMENT BECAUSE THE EVIDENCE IS THAT HE WAS PART OF THE PRESSURING OF KEN LEWIS. SO, YOU KNOW, YOU GO BACK TO THAT SAME POINT. HE'S GOING TO HAVE TO ANSWER THE TOUGH QUESTIONS OF HOW HE DEFINES PRESSURING JUST AS KEN LEWIS HAD TO ANSWER THE QUESTION OF WHETHER WHEN HE WAS THREATENED HE FELT THREATENED AND YOU SAW THAT BEING DANCED AROUND.

LIESMAN: SHOULD HE BE DISQUALIFIED FROM BEING REAPPOINTED BY PRESIDENT OBAMA DO YOU THINK, REPRESENTATIVE?

ISSA: WE HAVE SEEN IN RETROSPECT THAT NOBODY THAT SHOULD HAVE SEEN IT SAW WHAT WAS COMING IN THIS WRECK. THE FACT IS BERNANKE HAS TO BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR HOW HE HANDLED THIS WRECK BOTH PUBLICLY AND PRIVATELY AND RIGHT NOW THERE IS SERIOUS DOUBT ABOUT WHETHER PRIVATELY HE IN FACT HANDLED IT CORRECTLY.

BURNETT: REPRESENTATIVE, THANK YOU VERY MUCH.

ISSA: YOU'RE VERY WELCOME.

BURNETT: WE APPRECIATE YOU TAKING THE TIME TO ANSWER OUR QUESTIONS AND WE'LL CONTINUE TO VERY CLOSELY FOLLOW THIS STORY

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